Floating battery



UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEioE.

EPENETUS A. WILLIS, OF COLD SPRING, NEW YORK.

FLOATING BATTERY.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 26,219, dated November 22, 1859.

To all whom 'it 'may concern:

Be it known that I, EPENETUsA. IVILLIS, of Cold S ring, in the county ofQueens and State of Tew York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Floating Batteries; -and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification, in which- Figure 1, is a central vertical section of abattery constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2, is a horizontalsection of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in bothfigures.

My invention consists in constructing a ioating battery of circular formwith a central upright shaft by which it is capable of being anchored ina tide-way and around which it is capable of revolving while at anchor,to bring all of its circular series of guns in succession to bear on anyobject, and providing the same with a certain arrangement of screwpropellers in the circular battery whereby provision is made for givingit a rotary motion about its central shaft when at anchor or forpropelling and steering it from place to place.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

A, is the circular hull or float made with a flat bottom and with itssides of the form of an inverted frustum of a cone, that balls strikingit may glance off in a downward direction.

B, is the deck on which the guns are placed.

C, C, are the bulwarks made of conical form that balls striking them mayglance off in an upward direction, and D, is the roof made of conical orconvex form externally and supported on the bulwarks C, C. The hull oroat and bulwarks should meet as nearly as possible in a sharp edge allaround. The deck B, is on a level with the junction of the hull oriioat.

E, E, are the guns arranged at equal distances apart all around thebattery opposite to port holes a, a, provided in the bulwarks, andmounted and worked in the same way as ships guns or in any othersuitable manner.

F, is a chimney in the center of the Vroof serving to carry off thesmoke and for ventilation generally.

This hull or fioat, and its bulwarks and roof, may be built of timbersheathed all over with iron or steel plate or in any other manner bestcalculated to resist theaction of cannon balls or other projectilesemployed in warfare.

G, is the central upright shaft fitted to work loosely through awater-tight well-hole I), in the center of the hull. This shaft is ofcircular form except at the lower part which is of square or otherangular form and pointed that it may stick in the mud or sand at thebottom of a harbor, bay or river, and be prevented from turning easily.The head of this shaft is fitted with a cross-head or yoke I-I, which iscapable of turning easily upon it and of suspending and lifting it whennecessary, and the said cross-head or yoke has two upright screws I, I,fitted to it on opposite sides of the shaft G, the shafts of said screwspassing down through the deck and being worked by any suitable machinerywithin the hull or float for the pur pose of raising and lowering theshaft, which may be heavy enough to sink into the bottom of the harbor,bay or river by its own weight or be driven down into the said bottom bythe screws.

J, J, are the screw propellers carried by two shafts K, K, which arearranged parallel with each other tangential to the same circledescribed from the center of the battery. These shafts pass throughstuiiing boxes in the hull and are to be driven by steam engines orother motive power within the hull, and must be capable of being drivenboth in the same direction or in opposite directions.

By driving both screw propellers to exert their propulsive effect insimilar direct-ions the battery is propelled from place to place, thecentral shaft Gr, during such operation being held up by the screws I,I, and crosshead I-I, as shown in black outline in Fig. 1, so that itdoes not project or projects very little, through the bottom of the wellhole. To steer the vessel, the speed of one of the screw propellers isto be slackened or it may be stopped or backed, and for this purpose thevalve gear of the 'engines or other controlling apparatus may be underthe control of the pilot or steersman. The guns may be fired While thebattery is moving from place to place or stationary; but the greatadvantage of the invention Vconsists in the facility With which theseveral guns may be successively brought to bear on a given point orobject when the battery is anchored by the dropping or depression of thecentral shaft Gr, into the bottom of a harbor, river, bay or othermoderately Shoal Water, as shown in red outline in Fig. l. Therevo-lving mot-ion of the battery about the central shaft G, is effectedby driving the propellers in opposite directions, and the velocity atwhich it is thus driven may be such that it makes one revolution duringthe time occupied in loadaaai@ ing a gun, so that every gun may be firedevery time it arrives in a given position.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

Tlie combination of the central upright shaft so applied that it mayserve to anchor the battery and that the battery may revolve around it,and a system of propellers by which the battery may be either caused torevolve aro-und the said central shaft- While at anchor or propelledfrom place to place When the said central shaft is elevatedSubstantially as herein described.

E. A. VILLIS.

VitnesseS GEORGE WV. DEvoR, JAMES M. BURTis.

